(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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1 Samuel 28:7–14, “Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee. And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.”
As time went by, and the Lord didn’t answer Saul, he became more and more desperate. When Samuel was alive Saul still had some access to the Lord but, now that Samuel was dead, he was unable to make any contact with the Lord. He was already tormented with an evil spirit and this new period tormented him even further so that he was on the edge of madness. He became so desperate that he decided to find a medium who would be able to let his talk to Samuel beyond the grave. This was forbidden in the Law (Deut 18:10–11, “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.”) When Saul first became king, he was passionate about the Law and had driven all the people who could contact familiar spirits out of the Land. Now, however, he wanted to find a necromancer so that he could talk to Samuel. He sent two men to find a witch for him and the found one in a place called Endor. Endor was fairly close to Gilboa, down in the Valley of Jezreel. Saul disguised himself and went to the woman. He swore that he wouldn’t betray her so that she would be executed. Saul asked her to contact the dead Samuel. Saul, foolishly, tried to contact the spiritual world and the woman immediately knew that the man before her was Saul in disguise. We cannot after all these years whether the woman was a fake or not. We do know that the woman believed she saw the spirit of an old man and Saul believed that he was talking to Samuel.
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